ISLAMABAD: Responding to a claim made by Minhajul Quran International (MQI) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri regarding the imposition of martial law in the country, Interior Minister Rehman Malik asked Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to take notice of the statement.

Malik said the people of Pakistan want to know why he made such a controversial revelation.

Qadri in a press conference on February 3 said that if he had allowed the participants of his January 14 long march a ‘free hand’, the country would have been placed under martial law “within five minutes”.

Speaking to the media outside the Supreme Court, Malik advised Qadri to hire a legal advisor who can guide him with regards to his political statements.

“You have lived abroad for too long; you don’t know what to say,” the interior minister said, adding that the MQI chief should make comments that are in favour of the country.

He further said that “whatever Qadri says is always against the law.”

Talks with Taliban

Answering to a question regarding Taliban’s request for political guarantors for peace talks, Malik said Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif has refused to be an insurer.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) signalled its willingness to enter peace negotiations on February 4 with the government if three senior politicians – Nawaz, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Jamaat-e-Islami amir Syed Munawar Hasan – would act as guarantors.

The interior minister said he will contact JUI-F chief in this regard.

Malik stressed that bullet is not the answer to the ongoing terrorism problem and that the government will respond to this call for talks in a few days.

Why SC should take notice.What is wrong with the statement, it wsa Qadri’s opinion that if government does not come and settle the issue, his followers would march to Parliament and that could only be stopped by army.Let us not play with words, the statement should be viewed with reference to context.
Opposition is demanding that Karachi should be handed over to army because federal as wel las provincial government has failed to control killing of innocent people, should SC be approached to call the army?
If you talk less the things would certainly improve, because when you start you don not stop and cover all the subjects except on which you should concentrate

Why on earth are you asking the CJ to take notice? Judiciary doesn’t run the country, the government does. It is sad that a stalwart of the PPP government himself is asking the CJ to deal with this matter. It seems like the PPP government has been superseded by the judiciary, just like it was superseded by the army years ago. With these non-constitutional institutions exercising power, the supposed ‘democracy’ of the PPP government can be called into question. The judiciary has no right to intervene in state matters, it is not above the parliament. If, like the army, it tries to overreach its authority, there would be a clash of institutions in Pakistan, the consequences of which could be detrimental to the future stability of the country